List of Portugal national football team captains
The first Portugal captain was Cândido de Oliveira, who captained Portugal in the international match against Spain on 18 December 1921. This was his only international appearance. Vítor Gonçalves captained Portugal in their first international on home soil, on 17 December 1922 against the same opponent. The first international captain to win a match was Jorge Vieira against Italy on 18 June 1925.
Since then, Cristiano Ronaldo went on to set the record for most captaincies of his country, with 108. Humberto Coelho, João Domingos Pinto, Vítor Baía, and Fernando Couto have all captained Portugal at least 40 times. This article includes matches in which the Portuguese Football Federation awarded full caps, despite FIFA not listing those matches as full internationals.
List of captains
| # | Player | Portugal career | Caps as captain | Total caps | First captaincy | Last captaincy | Ref |
| 1 | 1921 | 1 | 1 | 18 December 1921 | 18 December 1921 | ||
| 2 | 1921–1922 | 1 | 2 | 17 December 1922 | 17 December 1922 | ||
| 3 | 1922–1923 | 1 | 2 | 16 December 1923 | 16 December 1923 | ||
| 4 | 1921–1928 | 13 | 15 | 17 May 1925 | 4 June 1928 | ||
| 5 | 1925–1934 | 8 | 20 | 17 March 1929 | 18 March 1934 | ||
| 6 | 1928–1930 | 1 | 3 | 12 January 1930 | 12 January 1930 | ||
| 7 | Tamanqueiro | 1925–1930 | 1 | 15 | 23 February 1930 | 23 February 1930 | |
| 8 | 1926–1933 | 1 | 15 | 8 June 1930 | 8 June 1930 | ||
| 9 | 1926–1931 | 1 | 9 | 30 November 1930 | 30 November 1930 | ||
| 10 | 1928–1936 | 2 | 21 | 12 April 1931 | 31 May 1931 | ||
| 11 | 1930–1938 | 7 | 8 | 5 May 1935 | 6 November 1938 | ||
| 12 | 1934–1942 | 2 | 13 | 12 February 1939 | 12 January 1941 | ||
| 13 | 1934–1942 | 1 | 6 | 28 January 1940 | 28 January 1940 | ||
| 14 | Pinga | 1930–1942 | 2 | 19 | 16 March 1941 | 1 January 1942 | |
| 15 | 1941–1947 | 10 | 13 | 11 March 1945 | 25 May 1947 | ||
| 16 | 1938–1949 | 1 | 20 | 23 November 1947 | 23 November 1947 | ||
| 17 | 1940–1951 | 12 | 25 | 21 March 1948 | 17 June 1951 | ||
| 18 | 1945–1950 | 1 | 7 | 21 May 1950 | 21 May 1950 | ||
| 19 | 1947–1958 | 2 | 35 | 8 April 1951 | 18 December 1955 | ||
| 20 | 1945–1953 | 1 | 18 | 20 April 1952 | 20 April 1952 | ||
| 21 | 1950–1955 | 2 | 15 | 23 November 1952 | 14 December 1952 | ||
| 22 | 1950–1953 | 1 | 6 | 27 September 1953 | 27 September 1953 | ||
| 23 | 1952–1957 | 15 | 17 | 21 November 1953 | 24 March 1957 | ||
| 24 | 1952–1957 | 4 | 17 | 1 May 1957 | 16 June 1957 | ||
| 25 | 1949–1960 | 9 | 39 | 22 December 1957 | 8 May 1960 | ||
| 26 | 1959–1965 | 5 | 21 | 21 June 1959 | 7 June 1964 | ||
| 27 | José Águas | 1952–1962 | 7 | 25 | 11 November 1959 | 17 May 1962 | |
| 28 | 1953–1964 | 1 | 28 | 7 November 1962 | 7 November 1962 | ||
| 29 | 1955–1968 | 21 | 57 | 16 December 1962 | 11 December 1968 | ||
| 30 | 1953–1966 | 9 | 24 | 15 November 1964 | 16 July 1966 | ||
| 31 | 1958–1968 | 7 | 45 | 25 January 1965 | 17 December 1967 | ||
| 32 | 1964–1972 | 2 | 27 | 6 April 1969 | 10 May 1972 | ||
| 33 | 1959–1971 | 5 | 40 | 16 April 1969 | 17 February 1971 | ||
| 34 | Eusébio | 1961–1973 | 16 | 64 | 4 May 1969 | 13 October 1973 | |
| 35 | 1961–1971 | 4 | 36 | 10 December 1969 | 12 May 1971 | ||
| 36 | 1968–1983 | 40 | 63 | 14 November 1973 | 27 April 1983 | ||
| 37 | Toni | 1969–1978 | 4 | 32 | 19 November 1975 | 16 October 1976 | |
| 38 | Nené | 1971–1984 | 6 | 65 | 5 December 1976 | 28 October 1983 | |
| 39 | 1974–1983 | 1 | 35 | 24 September 1980 | 24 September 1980 | ||
| 40 | 1976–1986 | 26 | 63 | 15 October 1980 | 3 June 1986 | ||
| 41 | 1975–1988 | 6 | 47 | 23 February 1983 | 16 November 1988 | ||
| 42 | 1982–1983 | 1 | 3 | 8 June 1983 | 8 June 1983 | ||
| 43 | 1975–1987 | 5 | 30 | 12 October 1986 | 29 March 1987 | ||
| 44 | 1981–1988 | 1 | 20 | 4 February 1987 | 4 February 1987 | ||
| 45 | 1983–1996 | 44 | 70 | 11 November 1987 | 9 November 1996 | ||
| 46 | Dito | 1981–1987 | 1 | 17 | 5 December 1987 | 5 December 1987 | |
| 47 | 1985–1989 | 1 | 18 | 20 December 1987 | 20 December 1987 | ||
| 48 | 1972–1989 | 2 | 43 | 12 October 1988 | 25 January 1989 | ||
| 49 | 1981–1994 | 1 | 40 | 29 August 1990 | 29 August 1990 | ||
| 50 | 1983–1995 | 4 | 41 | 31 March 1993 | 10 November 1993 | ||
| 51 | Oceano | 1985–1998 | 4 | 54 | 19 June 1993 | 11 October 1997 | |
| 52 | 1988–1996 | 1 | 44 | 20 April 1994 | 20 April 1994 | ||
| 53 | Nelo | 1990–1995 | 1 | 10 | 26 January 1995 | 29 January 1995 | |
| 54 | 1992–2002 | 1 | 49 | 3 June 1995 | 3 June 1995 | ||
| 55 | 1990–2002 | 40 | 80 | 3 September 1995 | 25 May 2002 | ||
| 56 | 1990–2004 | 44 | 110 | 12 December 1995 | 12 June 2004 | ||
| 57 | 1991–2006 | 23 | 127 | 2 June 2001 | 5 July 2006 | ||
| 58 | 1991–2002 | 1 | 81 | 6 June 2001 | 6 June 2001 | ||
| 59 | Pauleta | 1997–2006 | 9 | 88 | 4 September 2004 | 8 July 2006 | |
| 60 | Costinha | 1998–2006 | 8 | 53 | 8 September 2004 | 11 October 2006 | |
| 61 | 1996–2011 | 9 | 79 | 15 November 2006 | 19 June 2008 | ||
| 62 | 2003–present | 108 | 164 | 6 February 2007 | 17 November 2019 | ||
| 63 | 2001–2007 | 4 | 51 | 24 March 2007 | 22 August 2009 | ||
| 64 | Deco | 2003–2010 | 2 | 75 | 5 June 2007 | 31 March 2009 | |
| 65 | 2000–2008 | 1 | 54 | 15 June 2008 | 15 June 2008 | ||
| 66 | 1998–2010 | 8 | 85 | 20 August 2008 | 8 June 2010 | ||
| 67 | 2003–2016 | 5 | 89 | 10 June 2009 | 29 May 2016 | ||
| 68 | 2007–present | 6 | 96 | 29 March 2011 | 16 June 2015 | ||
| 69 | Pepe | 2007–present | 8 | 108 | 14 November 2012 | 20 November 2018 | |
| 70 | Nani | 2006–present | 9 | 112 | 15 October 2013 | 2 July 2017 | |
| 71 | Vieirinha | 2013–present | 1 | 25 | 17 November 2015 | 17 November 2015 | |
| 72 | João Moutinho | 2005–present | 1 | 121 | 2 June 2018 | 2 June 2018 | |
| 73 | Beto | 2009–present | 1 | 16 | 14 October 2018 | 14 October 2018 | |
| 74 | Rui Patrício | 2010–present | 1 | 87 | 17 November 2018 | 17 November 2018 |
Unofficial captaincies
The following players captained a side in a FIFA-declared unofficial match. Nevertheless, the Portuguese Football Federation has decided to award caps to the intervening footballers and as a result these matches were taken into account in the above table.| # | Captain | Opponent | Score | Venue | Date | Ref |
| 1 | Czechoslovakia Amateurs | 1–1 | Campo do Ameal, Porto | 24 January 1926 | ||
| 2 | Spain B | 0–2 | Estadio Metropolitano de Madrid, Madrid | 29 May 1927 | ||
| 3 | Spain Nationalists | 2–1 | Balaídos, Vigo | 28 November 1937 | ||
| 4 | Spain Nationalists | 1–0 | Campo das Salésias, Lisbon | 30 January 1938 | ||
| 5 | Goiás | 1–2 | Estádio Serra Dourada, Goiânia | 9 March 1975 | ||
| 6 | Nelo | Denmark League | 1–0 | SkyDome, Toronto | 29 January 1995 |